Proceedings of the
9th International Conference of Asian Society for Precision Engineering and Nanotechnology (ASPEN2022)
15 – 18 November 2022, Singapore
doi:10.3850/978-981-18-6021-8_OR-02-0019
Design of a Leg Mechanism with Suction Devices for a Hexapod Mobile Robot Moving around Multiple Environments
Graduated School of Engineering, Muroran Institute of Technology, 27-1 Mizumoto-cho, Muroran-shi Hokkaido,050-8585 Japan
ABSTRACT
Infrastructure facilities have been in operation for more than 50 years in Japan but are noticeably deteriorating and require effective inspections. The huge scope of inspections is a major social problem because of a decline in population and super-aging society have resulted in a shortage of skilled inspection engineers. To solve this shortage, robots have been developed that can effectively inspect piping and wall surfaces. However, most robots are for a single environment. Therefore, robots for multiple environments are needed. We focused on moving not only on a flat surface but also inside pipes and on walls and developed a leg mechanism equipped with a removable passive suction cup. A wire and winding take-up mechanism were also used as the leg raising and lowering mechanism. The leg tips are detachable so that they can be changed when moving on a flat surface, inside a pipe, or when moving on a wall surface. We fabricated a prototype robot equipped with the developed leg mechanism and conducted four experiments. In the first experiment, we had the robot move 500 mm forward on a flat surface. In the second experiment, it turned 90 degrees left and right on the spot. In the third experiment, it moved 500 mm forward inside a plastic pipe with a 114-mm inner diameter. In the final experiment, it moved 100 mm vertically on a wall. The experimental results indicate the usefulness of our leg mechanism.
Keywords: Hexapod mobile robot, Planes, Pipe, Wire, Winding mechanism, passive suction cups
Graduated School of Engineering, Muroran Institute of Technology, 27-1 Mizumoto-cho, Muroran-shi Hokkaido,050-8585 Japan
ABSTRACT
Infrastructure facilities have been in operation for more than 50 years in Japan but are noticeably deteriorating and require effective inspections. The huge scope of inspections is a major social problem because of a decline in population and super-aging society have resulted in a shortage of skilled inspection engineers. To solve this shortage, robots have been developed that can effectively inspect piping and wall surfaces. However, most robots are for a single environment. Therefore, robots for multiple environments are needed. We focused on moving not only on a flat surface but also inside pipes and on walls and developed a leg mechanism equipped with a removable passive suction cup. A wire and winding take-up mechanism were also used as the leg raising and lowering mechanism. The leg tips are detachable so that they can be changed when moving on a flat surface, inside a pipe, or when moving on a wall surface. We fabricated a prototype robot equipped with the developed leg mechanism and conducted four experiments. In the first experiment, we had the robot move 500 mm forward on a flat surface. In the second experiment, it turned 90 degrees left and right on the spot. In the third experiment, it moved 500 mm forward inside a plastic pipe with a 114-mm inner diameter. In the final experiment, it moved 100 mm vertically on a wall. The experimental results indicate the usefulness of our leg mechanism.
Keywords: Hexapod mobile robot, Planes, Pipe, Wire, Winding mechanism, passive suction cups
